5.17.2009

Expert Endorsement

My pal Richard clued me in this morning that none other than renowned expert John "P.C." Hodgman is using the illustration I did of him for The Stranger as the avatar on his Twitter account! I've been resisting signing up for Twitter 'cause I find the whole thing kinda silly...but this might be the final straw that breaks this obstinate camel's back.

A note about the art...I was assigned this piece way back in 2005, right after I first saw him on The Daily Show and before the P.C./Mac commercials first debuted. Soon after, I purchased his book, The Areas of My Expertise, which provided giggles aplenty. I like to think I'd do a little better job if I did it now, but I am particularly fond of the "Ol' Hobo" label on the can of beans!

2 comments:

I just want to comment so I hope you stick with Twitter. As a professional artist, your input could be invaluable to a lot of people.

I had a similar stance on Twitter: a bunch of people spouting whatever's on their mind. Stupid and who cares? I had it all wrong.

John Hodgman has the best term for it: Hive Mind. Its not so much about what any individual is blabbing about, it's about each individual Twitter user having an army of intelligent search bots (in cyberspace and in the world).

Best way to explain it: I'm into gardening, so I follow a whole bunch of people who do the same (amateur to professional). Now I have a list of people that are constantly searching, exploring, experimenting and sharing their knowledge with me.

Twitter has a few other uses like if you get a big enough following you can start querying your followers for answers they might know. I've also found a lot of motivation, inspiration, and education by following people in my field.

Please, stick with Twitter, even if its uses seem trivial to begin with.

Old-Timey Hockey Tales

Celebrate the Golden Age of the coolest sport on earth. Features stories about Gordie Howe, Michel Briere, Lester Patrick and the Rocket Richard Riot. By Rob Ullman and Jeffrey Brown. 32 color and black and white pages, $6. Click the photo to order!

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Bio

ROBERT ULLMAN pays the bills as a freelance illustrator for a plethora of publications and clients, such as THE HOCKEY NEWS, PENTHOUSE, THE STRANGER, LAS VEGAS WEEKLY, HarperCollins, The U.S. Army and The American Red Cross. He creates comics in his spare time (of which there never seems to be enough), including ATOM-BOMB BIKINI, GRAND GESTURES, and OLD-TIMEY HOCKEY TALES.
rob (at) robullman (dot) com